Friday: Uruguay

International travel is exotic, even when it is with 600 other people on a giant ferry.

We found a cab not far from our place. I swear, cab drivers worldwide must have to go through a criminal background check. No criminal background, no job. They excel at making you feel like you're taking the slowest possible route just to pump up the fare.

I guess it could be that I'm a distrusting control freak? Nah. Easier to pre-judge a whole class of people.

The ferry ride was fun. Just an hour. They have a three hour  version too. Less fun, I'm sure.

The city of Colonia in Uruguay is very cute. Cobblestone streets everywhere. The town is so small, you can walk from end to end and twice around in half an hour. We had a nice lunch and visited five  or so museums (you pay once and then get into all the museums on the same ticket).

It was a colonial town bounced around between Brazil, Spain, and  Britain for several hundred years before turning into a major  tourist port for Buenos Aires.

Now we are on the ferry home. The woman sitting next to me sounds just like Maya Angelou -- all nasal and sing song. Perhaps I'll ask her to recite a few lines of "And Still I Rise".

Okay, new extremes in making-change-phobia. On a  full boat with a  cafeteria, duty free store, the works, I tried to break a 100 peso bill by buying an 8 peso bottle of water. The cashier nearly had a meltdown. He opened and closed the register twice and called a manager before apologizing and giving me the water for free rather than make change.

Tomorrow, we'll hit a few more sites in BA before heading to the airport for an evening flight.